Auckland | Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's thumping victory in the New Zealand election looked certain on Sunday to deliver Labour the country's first majority government in decades, along with the challenge – and sole responsibility – of tackling its worst economic crisis since 1984.

Ms Ardern's "go early, go hard" approach to lockdowns to eliminate the coronavirus was rewarded with a landslide second-term victory on Saturday – one big enough to reshape long-standing political boundaries in New Zealand.